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We recently returned from a family trip to Aruba, and we’ve got so many details to share with y’all! First things first, Aruba is BEAUTIFUL – the beaches, the water, the weather – it’s amazing. If you’re looking for a relaxing beach vacation on a very safe island with very friendly people – this is your spot!
Now let’s dive into exactly what we did during our 6-day trip!
DAY 1
Fly to Aruba – This time around, we flew Southwest because Courtney currently has the companion pass. Since we used Southwest points to cover her flight, and Austin used her companion pass, our flights were free – yes you read that right, FREE! (Okay, we paid ~$50 in international taxes & fees, but basically free). Another option for cheap flights – our favorite website called Going – they alert you with flight deals all over from your preferred airports!
Pick Up Rental Car – Because we wanted to be able to explore the entire island easily, we rented a car for our 6-day trip. With Austin’s The Platinum Card® from American Express, he automatically gets the highest status with a few different car rental companies, including Hertz, which is the company we used for this trip because of their airport pick-up / drop-off convenience. Since our group consisted of 6 people and ~lots~ of luggage, we opted for the 8-seater minivan, which Austin happily whipped around the island all week.
Provision the Kitchen – Since we flew into Oranjestad and the house we rented was north, in Noord, we made sure to stop at a large grocery store on the way, called Super Food Plaza. This store had everything we could have needed, including snacks, breakfast food, beer/seltzers, and everybody’s favorite thing of the week – fresh squeezed orange juice! On top of food, this store also has a connected pharmacy with items like sunscreen and makeup, as well as a store on the second floor selling items such as snorkel gear and pool floats.
House Rental – Once we finally made it to our rental, we took some time to unpack, unwind, and get ready for dinner. We rented our 4 bed, 4.5 bath house through Casiola, a well-known rental company in Aruba. They were extremely professional, quickly fixed all concerns (ie added a myfi router when wifi was down), and we would recommend using them!
Explore Palm Beach Area / Dinner – We didn’t necessarily know what to expect on our first evening in Aruba, but we sure did not expect to see a Wendy’s, a Hooters, and a Fat Tuesday all within walking distance of each other! Palm Beach is the area on the island where the big hotel chains are, and unfortunately, seems to be a pretty touristy area overall. Don’t get us wrong, we discovered some gems in Palm Beach (which will be mentioned later), but it definitely was not our favorite spot on the island! After a good amount of walking around and taking in the sights, we settled on grabbing some pizzas & salads at Amore Mio Pizzeria, which was quite yummy!
DAY 2
After a good night’s sleep and a breakfast made with our provisions from yesterday, we headed out to Eagle Beach to spend a few hours before running back to the airport to pick up the remainder of our group.
Eagle Beach – this beach is STUNNING! With white sand and crystal clear water, you’re basically staring at a picture perfect postcard. Eagle Beach has to be our favorite beach on the island because of the beauty, as well as the convenience. First of all, there is a ton of parking all over this area – we never had any problem finding a close spot! Second, this beach is full of SHADE – a very important beach day component. There are hundreds of FREE palapas throughout the entire beach (but if you want a chair, you will either need to bring your own or rent them)! Lastly, Eagle Beach if full of activities – from jet skis to tubing to parasailing, you’ll find an activity for everyone! For lunch, we stumbled upon a great beach bar called Passions (which converts to a dinner location in the evening), and shared some sandwiches and wraps.
Dinner – After scooping the remainder of our party from the airport, enjoying the house, and getting ready for the evening, we drove back to the Eagle Beach area to enjoy a beautiful dinner at Elements, a restaurant within Bucuti and Tara Beach Resort. We had a great meal here, with our group ordering entrees such as a grilled salmon pasta, barramundi, and mahi-mahi. On top of the delicious food, we experienced the most beautiful sunset of the trip, as this restaurant is beachfront.
DAY 3
Breakfast – Hidden within a medical park near Eagle Beach is the cutest family-owned coffeehouse, called Aru-bean Coffeehouse and Brasserie. Not only was their coffee absolutely delicious, but their extensive food menu included something for everyone in our group – from fresh fruit smoothies to sweet waffles to savory breakfast sandwiches, everyone ordered exactly what they wanted! We would highly recommend a visit to this spot!
Mangel Halto Beach – Tucked on the west side of the island in Savaneta is a stunning beach with gorgeous water colors. This beach is much more local, with no beach bars / restaurants or activities, but because of this, it is a quiet oasis for anyone looking to get away from the crowds!
Baby Beach – At the southern most tip of island is a beautiful lagoon called Baby Beach. Here you can find a large lagoon of water to swim or snorkel, with two different beach bars – Rum Reef and Big Mama Grill. There are a few palapas scattered around the beach, though to guarantee shade, you will either want to bring an umbrella or rent a clamshell tent with two lounge chairs for $60. We had an amazing day here, complete with lots of water time and yummy burgers and wraps from Big Mama Grill!
Dinner – Since we rented a house on the north end of the island and Baby Beach is on the south end of the island (~45 minute drive), we decided to grab a casual bite on the way home at a very highly recommended restaurant called Zeerovers. This is a total no-frills spot – you order how much shrimp, mahi, and/or snapper you want at the front window, they dump your seafood in a fryer, and they deliver it to your table – but let us tell you, this was the freshest seafood we had the entire time!! Definitely an experience we would recommend on your next visit!
DAY 4
Sunrise Swim – Since the sunsets had been so beautiful in Aruba, we decided to experience a sunrise, and what better way than with a sunrise swim?! We drove to Arashi Beach (~5 minutes from our house rental) and caught the sunrise from the ocean. We were the only ones at this beach until around 7:30am, when we packed up to head back home!
UTV Excursion – After our swim, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the house, and left for our UTV Excursion with Around Aruba Tours, which lasted from 9am-1pm. We had so much FUN during this excursion, and got to see so many places! Our stops included: Philip’s Animal Garden, Alto Vista Chapel, Natural Bridge, Wairuri Bay, Bushiribana Ruins, Cave Pool Aruba, and Andicuri Beach. Water bottles and a face covering is provided, but you’ll want to make sure to bring sunglasses that can block dust from getting in your eyes! *Pro tip – Make sure to get a pastechi or two at the Natural Bridge gift shop!!
Chill Evening / Dinner – After the excursion, our group was exhausted, so we returned to our house to hang by our pool and relax for a few hours! We decided to return to Arashi Beach to catch the sunset and grab a casual dinner at the Arashi Beach Shack – unfortunately, the kitchen was closed upon our arrival, so we ended up grabbing a few pizzas to share!
DAY 5
This day began with a yummy homemade breakfast of waffles, eggs, and bacon before venturing back out to the beach for the day!
Eagle Beach – Obviously we had to return to our favorite spot on the island! Again, we had no trouble finding parking or palapas, and spent the majority of our day in the crystal clear water. We also decided to rent jet skis this day, and after getting quotes from 4 different rental companies on the beach, we found the going rate is ~$80 for 30 minutes per jet ski. However, we were able to negotiate 5-10 extra minutes at no extra cost 🙂 We once again grabbed some lunch on the beach, this time from Islander Grill via an awesome waitress who traveled back and forth from beach to restaurant. All of our lunches were great, and we each grabbed a tasty BOGO happy hour daquiri (2-4pm) before heading back to the house!
Oranjestad – This evening we drove to the capital of Aruba to do some quick souvenir shopping & grab a drink and dinner. We first stopped at Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar – a spot right by the marina, then over to The West Deck for dinner, which overlooks the beach. We thoroughly enjoyed the vibes at The West Deck, with a live steel drum performance throughout our dinner! If you find yourself at this spot, we highly recommend getting the wings and the spicy jerk shrimp!
DAY 6
Our last full day on the island! We grabbed a quick bite at home before leaving for our excursion.
Jolly Pirates Sail, Snorkel, Swim, and Swing – This excursion was so highly rated by both personal friends and Viator reviews, that we had to book it – and we were not disappointed! This excursion was FUN – with a high energy crew, 3 snorkel spots (including a ship wreck), a rope swing, open bar, and a BBQ lunch – we felt like we got amazing value and our entire group had a wonderful time. Our only critique was that we felt like they booked a few too many people on the boat (~60 people on an 85-foot teak schooner), however, they ran the excursion as a well-oiled machine, and we never really felt the impact of the crowd!
Afternoon / Dinner – After our excursion, we took a few more hours to enjoy the house rental / pool before getting ready for our final dinner on the island. Before our dinner reservation, we stopped at Moomba Beach Bar to grab a drink and an appetizer, as well as take some family sunset photos. We then walked the beach over to our dinner spot, Atardi, where we experienced a beautiful and luxurious final evening. With a live violin performance, tables in the sand, and extremely tasty food and drinks, this was our favorite meal of the trip!
DAY 7 / FINAL MORNING
We wanted to experience one last beach walk before packing up to head home, so we drove over to Palm Beach, grabbed a yummy coffee and acai bowl from Eduardo’s Beach Shack, and strolled the gorgeous beach! After this, we packed up all of our things and left our house rental by the check-out time of 11am, drove back over to Palm Beach to eat a tasty lunch at Lola Taqueria, and stopped by Super Food Plaza to purchase some plane snacks before heading to the airport.
Aruba Airport – One very important thing to know before traveling to Aruba is that you will go through customs IN ARUBA instead of upon your arrival back into the US. This is awesome, because it limits the time you will have to spend at the airport / rushing through your layover upon your return, but make sure to leave yourself enough time to get through this process in Aruba! The process is as follows: check bags / secure a physical boarding pass, quick passport check, security round 1 (no TSA precheck or CLEAR line), baggage claim (don’t forget to grab any checked bags here!!), customs (Global Entry and Mobile Passport available here), bag drop for checked bags, and security round 2 (no TSA precheck or CLEAR line).
If you are interested in learning more about TSA Precheck, Global Entry, Mobile Passport, and how to use them, along with a ton of other travel tricks & tips, you can find our FREE travel playbook here!
Overall, we had an absolutely amazing time exploring Aruba, and would highly recommend a visit whether it’s a cruise port stop or a land-based trip!
Our Aruba Quick Tips:
- Aruba is a VERY windy island – make sure to wear your hair up if that wind is going to bother you!
- Explore as much as you can – we loved being able to experience the many different beaches and activities all around Aruba! Since it is such a small island, it is very easy to rent a car and travel everywhere on the island (if time allows).
- Make reservations ahead of time – especially if you are headed to Aruba in season! Popular restaurants can book up quickly, so make sure you are booking a reservation ahead of time.
- If grocery shopping, buy the local brands – they are MUCH cheaper!
Need some new travel gear? Our travel must-haves can be found here!
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